Conventionally, a substrate conveying robot comprising an end effector is used in order to convey a substrate (plate member) such as a wafer for manufacturing semiconductors or a glass substrate for manufacturing liquid crystal panels.
The substrate conveying robot is taught conveying positions of substrates via a teaching device connected to a robot controller, and operates repeatedly between the taught conveying positions so as to convey the substrates. For example, the robot takes a wafer out from a substrate storing portion (FOUP, for example) in which a plurality of wafers are stored and conveys the wafer to another substrate storing portion (FOUP, for example) or the side of a wafer treating device.
An end effector holding a plurality of substrates and conveying the same simultaneously is proposed in order to enhance efficiency of conveying substrates from a conveying source to a conveying destination. This type of end effector has a hand of batch conveying type having a hand base portion at least a part of which advances below a plurality of substrates to be held and a substrate holding unit capable of holding a plurality of substrates.